SOJOURN is a three-song EP from Maine-based duo Love Is The Question, comprising Sara Goldenthal and Justin Maxwell, who reinterpret emotionally charged classics through a cinematic, slowcore-oriented lens. Inspired by a transformative summer and a prophetic dream Goldenthal recorded in her journal twelve years earlier, the release recasts songs by Neil Young, Elvis Costello, and U2 with spacious slide guitar and haunting lead performances, emphasizing the intimate emotional undercurrents of each composition.

The EP opens with a haunting cover of Neil Young’s “Down by the River.” Lonesome, nighttime-set guitar jangles drive into Sara Goldenthal’s soulful lead atmospherics. The “when you should be taking me for a ride” yearning, in the face of loneliness, is conveyed artfully as the ghostly guitars continue to progress. The title-bearing “down by the river, I shot my baby” resonance hits hard, progressing into a second half that maintains the track’s nocturnal, introspective soundscape. This opener quickly showcases the project as fully capable of breathing their own life into classics.

That talent is further exemplified on a take of Elvis Costello’s “I Want You.” This more piano-driven accompaniment also does well in highlighting Goldenthal’s fantastic performance, scaling back alongside the softer pianos in a spine-tingling final proclamation of how “I want you.” Closing the EP, their cover of U2’s “Love Is Blindness” returns to electric guitar territory, strutting a spacious slowcore-minded charm as reverbed guitars meld with moving lead presence, expanding from initial subduedness to a concluding, wordless harmonious layering that sends chills. SOJOURN is a stellar success of an EP from Love Is The Question.

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“I Want You” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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